Improvement in machine-shirred ruffles



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Inventor. f L/ K 2.. 4 WD w @7M a M @THHHQIIIIILH a, W m LV@ @Www Y m Wa ,f/d H ad F 1M f ,@Q@ m t C .c N m l J Mw f N ,f .w/ f MM m xi` lUNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

C. O. CROSBY,OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINE-SHIRRED RUFFLES.

Specification forming part of Letters PatentNo. 38,375, dated May 5,1865.

To all fwhom t may concern:

Be it known that I, C. O. CROSBY, of the city and county of New Haven,and State of Connecticut, have invented al new and usefulll/Iachinebhirred Ruffle; and I do hereby declare the following tobe afull, clear, and exact description of the same, when taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification,iu which- Figures 1 and 2 respectively represent a sectional view andplan cfa machine for making my improved ruffle; Figs. 3 and 4, enlargedviews of sections of my rufie, to fully illustrateits formation.Fig.5shows my ruffle complete. Fig. 6 shows the saine with a strip ofthesaine or other fabric or binding stitched thereto in another machinethan the one in which the shirrs are formed. Fig. 7 represents a sectionot' double rufiie, or one ou which the shirrs are formed in the middleof a strip of fabric, 0r so as to leave afrill on both sides of theshirrs.

The object of my invention is to produce a rut'lic or frilling similarin appearance to that formed by hand, bya process known as gathering,77without the principal objection to that, Vwhich is the unavoidableirregularity in its shirrs. Vheumade by hand the strip ol fabric fromwhich the frill or ruffle is to be formed is first hemmed upon one edge,then a strong thread is run in near the other edge; or the fabric may bestitched in adouble-thread sewing-machine, as Wheeler 86 Wilsons,77 orlike stitch, one of the threads being taut and the other slack. Thisdone, and the fabric taken from the machine, then, with one hand holdingthe thread, (the taut thread if stitched in a machine,) the strip isshirred or gathered upon the said thread with the other hand. It willbereadily seen how impossible it is to make vthe shirrs in this mannerwith any degree of regularity. Therefore my invention consists inproducing by mechanical contrivance a shirred ruffle orfrill in whichall the shirrs shall be equal, or, in other words, producing amechanically-shined ruffle.

'lo enable others skilled iu the art to makeA l ceed to more minutelydescribe it, together with a mechanism for producing the same.

I will rst describe'tlie mechanism by which means I shirr the fabric Vtoforth a ruffle. I employ in this illustration and practically prefer thesewing` machine known as the Willcox 85 Gibbs77 machine, patented June2,1859, and partially represented in Figs. l and 2."

- A is the platform on which the work is performed. B is the needle-bar;b, the needle; C, the presser-foot; D, the feed; E, the driving-shaft;E', the looper. These are all substantially the working parts ofthe saidmachine, to be threaded and operated in the usual manner. To theseworking parts of the original machine [add a rock-shaft, F, worked bythe cam G through the lever H.

a is a stop or clamp lixed to the said rockshaft, and the point or footof which falls onto the platform directly back of but at alittledistance from the presser-foot C.

I is a roller, around which I pass a second thread, as denoted by a redline, thence down and under the presser-foot, as represented. c is 'aneye, through which the said second thread passes. A reciprocatingmovement is given to this said eye of the cam L through the sliding rodN, to which the said eye is attached. The shaft 0,011 which the cam L isplaced, is made to revolve once to every two revolutions ot' the shaftEby means of cog-wheels d and ff This is for the purpose of carrying thesecond thread rst to one side of the needle and then to the other, sothat each stitch made crosses thel second thread, and will present theappearance as shown enlarged in Fig. 3.

P is a check fixed to the rock-shaft F to act upon the roller I, so thatwhen required it will press upon the roller and prevent a greater supplyofthe second thread than is required,

las more fully explained hereinafter.

in the proper position-that is, so that the nee-- die willpass down atone side of it. As I now start the machine, the needle goes down on oneside of the second thread, and in a full revolution forms one stitch. Asthe needle rises and leaves the fabric, and before it again enters it,the second thread will, by the mechanism before described, have beencarried over so far to the opposite side of the needle that it (theneedle) will in its second descent enter the cloth upon the oppositesideof the second thread to its lirst entrance.` Thus the second stitch willbe formed across this second thread. (See Fig. 3. The second thread isdenoted in red and the stitches in black.) The tension of the twothreads must be such that the upper thread will lie entirely upon theupper surface ofthe fabric. The second stitch completed, and before theneedle enters for the third stitch, the second thread will have beencarried back to its first position, causing` the stitch to cross it, andso on alternately first lto the one side of the needle and then theother, so as to cause each stitch formed to cross it, (the secondthread.) As the stitches are formed the strip is fed along in theordinary manner until the first stitch reaches the stop or clamp a.,which said clamp, at the instant the feed commences to move the fabric,must press upon the said fabric, and at the sameinstant the check mustbe applied to the second thread. The result of this is that as it cannotpass the said stop or clamp the feed will cause the stitches to slip onthe second thread, and as there is nothing to hold down the fabric'for'the space of one stitch bet-Ween the presser-footand the said clampit will full up into that space and form one shirr. After this ispiopeily formed, and before the feed is complete, the clamp or stoprises from the fabric, and at the same time the check rises from thesecond thread, and the feed carries the fabric and second thread with itto complete its (the feeds) movement, the feed returns and in its nextforward movement forms a second shirr in like manner as the first wasformed, and so on, each and every shirr being exactly like the precedingone and variable in propor tion as the clamp or stop is allowed torein-ain for a greater or less portion of the entire feed. These shirrsare shown in Fig. 4enlarged, but not quite closed. The red line denotesthe second or upper thread, the black line the stitches, and the bluethe fabric. It will be seen that the shirrs may in this manner be madevery much finer and with a degree of regularityimpossible to attaineither by hand or any known device. Thus I produce mechanically a complete .shirred or gathered ruffle.

Fig. 5 represents the ruflie complete, the red line denoting the line ofstitches and second thread. Fig. 6 represents the same ruffie sewed to abinding or separate strip of fabric. This I sew in a separate machineand by an additional and distinct line of stitches through both ruflieand binding. This line of stitches is represented by the unbrokenredline, the broken line representing the stitches taken in shirring theruffle. This band or binding is not a necessity to the completion of therufe, but is attached in some-cases as a matter of convenience to theconsumer. The additional line of stitches serves to coniine 'the shirrsin the regular position in which they are formed. Fig. 7 represents adouble rufe shirred in like manner. The middle .red line denotes thestitches and second thread as the ruffle comes from the shining-machine.I take two other lines of stitching in acommon sewing-machine, one uponeither side, for the better securing the shirrs in their properposition; or by the use ofa double sewing-machine two lines ofstitchesand two second threads in like manner as the single machine describedmay be employed, and then the one middle line taken in a separatemachine to confine the shirrs.

Having thus fully set forth my invention,l what I claim thereon as newand useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The mechanically-shirred ruffle described, as a new7 article ofmanufacture, Whether the same be double or single, or either with orwithout a band or binding attached thereto, substantially as herein setforth.

U. O. CROSBY.

IVitnesses:

JOHN E. EARLE, RUFUs SANFORD.

